Daunting challenge lies ahead for Budge

Reconstruction has once again been the word of the week in Scottish football. On Tuesday night, Ann Budge revealed some details of the proposal she hopes will save Hearts and give us a new-look SPFL for the next couple of seasons.

I have seen the whole document and she was clearly trying to get the other clubs to think more about how the game might best cope with this crisis, rather than simply sparing her team relegation.

And she was explicit that this should be seen only as a temporary fix to the problems facing football.

Mrs Budge did however emphasise the importance of having Hearts in the Premiership, using the phrase “strong clubs are essential for a strong league”.

The Tynecastle side is undoubtedly one of the best financially backed in Scotland – thanks largely to the remarkably loyal fanbase, but has fallen some way short on the pitch – and that is why they find themselves scrambling around to try to preserve a top-flight future.

She talked in the document of Hearts’ ability to fund testing equipment and other resources, offering to share those with others across all divisions. There was also the offer of the use of Tynecastle on a non-profit basis for nearby clubs should “hubs” be deemed necessary to play matches. And she gave the warning that “Hearts not being in the Premier League at this time would seriously limit our ability to help Scottish football”.

In all, Ann Budge put forward a strong case and was clearly offering incentives for clubs to back it. Nothing wrong with that, but some of those would be of little or no benefit to many sides and it seems highly likely the plan will fail.

The mechanics of the proposed new set-up have been made public and look to be workable enough and of course the Dons were quick to offer their support in principle.

The final make-up would still be dependent on how many clubs feel they can afford to play at all next season, particularly given that half the campaign looks almost certain to be behind closed doors.

Whatever numbers we end up with, any club which wants to play has to be given a vehicle to do so, but that will be storing up problems for 2021-22.

Will the clubs who “mothballed” simply be dropped into the bottom division, then? Is that not penalising them unjustly in the way that Mrs Budge says must not be allowed to happen to Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer?

There is much discussion and debate still to be had before this comes to a conclusion. Perhaps her biggest hurdle is convincing a raft of Premiership sides to support her. If the 14-team top division is just temporary and due to revert to 12 in a couple of years, that will mean more clubs being relegated in 2022.

Why would the likes of Hamilton, Ross County and St Mirren vote for a proposal which only increases their chance of being demoted? Down the divisions, many clubs have said they will only vote for permanent change, but her most daunting challenge will be getting the 11-1 majority she needs in the Premiership.

Ann Budge